Hurricanes and tropical storms generate high winds that can typically cause tremendous damage to buildings. Usually glass windows and doors are destroyed first by the wind and windborne debris. Once the glass is broken the inside of the building will be exposed to the destroying storm elements also.
There are various methods and devices to protect windows from the wind. One often used method is to nail plywood panels over the building openings. Usually plywood is attached over the opening and nailed or screwed on the frame of the opening. This method has various flaws. A major flaw is that if the frame is wooden the nails and screws leave ugly holes on the frames. Often times in modern business buildings the frames are not wood but of metal or other hard material. In such case the plywood panel has to be attached to this hard material, which is slow and there may not be enough time to cover hundreds and hundreds of metal framed business building windows. Also screws and nails leave ugly holes into the metal frames.
Yet another flaw in the method of attaching plywood covers by nailing or srewing onto window or door frames is the fact that when the window frame is not rectangular or when the opening locates in a vault or a curved depression the plywood may need to be shaped before it can be attached to the frame.
There are various methods that have been introduced to make installation of storm panels and shutters faster.
For example US Patent Application Publication US2007/0101667 discloses a storm panel bracket system that secures a storm panel inset within the frame of building openings. The bracket system includes one or more storm brackets and one or more resilient bumpers. The storm bracket includes an adjusting screw and adjustment nut. Turning the adjustment nut moves the nut along the adjusting screw. The movement of the nut moves a movable member of the storm bracket. The movable member holds a protecting storm panel and forces the panel against the frame of the window, providing a clamping action that holds the storm panel in place. The resilient bumpers are placed between the storm panel and the frame to provide a cushion for the frame and to enhance friction between the frame and the storm panel. The flaw in this approach is that the plywood has to be sized exactly to fit into the frame, otherwise the plywood panel cannot be attached to the bracket. Therefore, this method requires measurement of the frame sizes and custom work on the plywood panels to make them fitting.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,337,582 provides another similar type of protection system. Several anchor clips are attached to the window frame and the storm panel is supported by these clips. Again the flaw is that the plywood panel has to be cut to fit inside the frame. Moreover, the structure of the clips is such that most probably a large number of clips are needed to attach the panel properly.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,335,452 discloses a system were a horizontal bar is attached in front of a pair of window panels with anchor members that are attached to the window frame. In this system the window panels do not obviously need to be cut to same size as the frame. However, the flaw in this system is that the bar may not provide enough support to hold the panels on place during a storm. Further support could be provided by nailing or screwing the panels on place and in such case installing the bar would be just an extra step and slower the work.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,997,036 provides a corrugated hurricane panel attachment and a strengthening strap system. The flaw in this system is that the panel is not plywood but specially made corrugated polycarbonate storm shutter, which naturally increases the costs of the system. Also the shutter has to be measured to fit into the frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 8,074,408 discloses another system for corrugated polycarbonate plastic hurricane shutter panel. The corrugated polycarbonate plastic shutter panel is attached from its upper end and lower end within a U-shaped pocket of a aluminum bar which is attached on the window frames. The flaw in this system is the cost of the aluminum bars and the plastic shutter. Moreover, the shutters need necessarily be of such size that it fits within the frame.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,341,455 discloses a system where a high strength fabric covering the window is supported by brackets, a rod and a bar and stretched over the window to protect it from the winds.
Accordingly, there is a need for an easy, affordable and effective system to protect building openings, such as windows during storms and hurricanes. There is a need for a system that does not require specifically shaped panels or panels of any other material than simple plywood. There is also a need for a system where attaching hurricane or storm panels would not require multitude of nail or screw holes in the window frames.
This disclosure provides solution to the flaw of the prior art. Embodiments of this invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and will be described in more details below.